“The managers, they don’t have all those boxes to check [in reference to my survey]. They see race simple. American and not.” – Shirong (32, male, foreign-born, Asian).

“Sovereign is he who decides on the state of exception” – Carl Schmitt

In preparing for this blog post, I initially felt the need to reconcile what seemed to be clear differences in our two readings this week. The first reading: a condensed commentary on the growing divide between the EU and its migrants—a result of neo-liberalist policies that dehumanize, commodify and ultimately reduce migrants to their value as labor; the second: a more extensive piece that places Latinos/migrant workers within a framework of racialization through ethnographic research in America’s service industry.

Yet after reflecting on the highly racialized demand of labor as explored by Alexander, I realized that both articles echo similar themes of placement, belonging and the (non)desire for one’s belonging within a capitalist, hierarchical, and neo-liberalist society.

Vacchiano opens her piece contrasting two kinds of migrants: the “frequent flyer” tourists departing a cruise ship, and the recently apprehended, hidden and separated immigrants crowded in an alleyway. I couldn’t help but compare this image to Alexander’s discussion of work in the kitchen: either “in front of” or “behind” the kitchen doors.

Indeed, Alexander’s description of the kitchen appears as a microcosm for issues of migration, sovereignty, and the state. In this scenario, a kitchen’s “manager” would be the Sovereign: the entity whose function determines one’s inclusion or exclusion. The hierarchy of placement in the kitchen mirrors the common practices of a capitalist, neo-liberal state—a division of labor which is both driven and limited by racial and class stratification, and largely determined by the historic and present decisions of the sovereign. Yet perhaps most pointedly, what happens “behind the doors” of the kitchen (i.e. the state) and the unjust/immoral treatment to the more vulnerable, at times undocumented, workers is largely hidden from the public, lest the restaurant customers (the public) become aware and boycott.

For such a situation, it becomes all the more necessary to see “how the sausage gets made,” as it were. To investigate and explore beyond what would otherwise remain hidden. To open doors and fight to tear down walls that separate, abuse and exploit.